Quilted/Quartiers is a collective quilt project born out of the neighbourhoods and community spaces, especially the community art hives of Montréal, Canada. These quilts are constructed maps, a bird’s eye view of the neighbourhoods where we live. Each patch is created by different people who live, work, or play in the community. The openness of this project invites participants to create patches that either correlate to the actual location of that patch on the map of the neighbourhood, or that symbolically represent the way the neighbourhood, and its community spaces, make them feel. Or, they might make patches from found materials that are more indirect representations of how we feel and interact with our community.

While these quilts are informed by the tradition of quilting, they transcend the rules and structures of traditional quilts. While this project can serve as an introduction to quilting, stitching by hand and/or sewing by machine (if folks are so inclined), these quilts welcome the participation of all members of the community, regardless of skill, ability, access to materials, or creative vision.

The patches are made out of found or donated materials, makingQuilted/Quartiers rooted in upcycling and ecological recuperation. Participants are invited to use any material they imagine: fabric, yarn, plastics, candy wrappers, found objects, etc. The only rule is to leave a 1/4 seam around the border of their piece, so it can be sewn together with the neighbouring pieces.

The patches are worked on individually or collaboratively by different members of the community, and are finally assembled by the founder of this project, artist Kay Noele. The end result is a myriad of patches brought together as a map that is an honest representation of how we feel about and interact with our neighbourhood and community spaces.